


Yavin IV Chili

by MissMaris



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Cooking, Friendship, Gen, He's mentioned too, Leia Organa (mentioned) - Freeform, after the defeat of starkiller base, before Rey leaves to find Luke, i can't write anything without mentioning Luke, slice of resistance base life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-27
Updated: 2016-02-27
Packaged: 2018-05-23 10:58:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6114412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissMaris/pseuds/MissMaris
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rey tries and fails at cooking, so Poe and BB-8 help her out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Yavin IV Chili

There's just barely a week between the defeat of Starkiller Base and Rey's departure to find Luke Skywalker.

During that time, she's been debriefed, outfitted with new clothes, grieved with Leia Organa, reunited with BB-8, and, among other things, she is finally introduced to the pilot who started this whole mess, Poe Dameron. She can't blame him too much though. After all, he is the reason she met Finn.

Finn...Rey spends every hour in between all these activities at his bedside (or at least until visiting hours in the med-bay are over). Doctors and med-droids alike promise her his recovery, but they weren't there. They didn't see him, lying lifeless in the snow with that dark monstrosity called Kylo Ren standing over him. She refuses to think of him as Ben Solo, not after what he did to Han.

The Resistance Base is constant chaos. What was once seen as a to-be-forgotten sector of the New Republic is now its center. Survivors from the Hosnian System whose homes were destroyed seek refuge with the Resistance. Rey reasons with Leia that since she won't be staying long, there's no sense in giving her her own room. As painful as it is, she prefers to sleep on the Millennium Falcon. The small, dark room with a singular bunk she calls home now is reminiscent of her Imperial walker on Jakku, but considerably better. 

Rey's taken Maz's words to heart. She may never return to the bleak life of a scavenger, but that doesn't mean she's suddenly comfortable with all these changes. One of the most startling is the availability of food. Free food. All day, whenever Rey wants it. And water, too.

Of course, she didn't know about that until her second night. The first she'd spent in the med-bay herself, under observation for the strain her body had been put through. Rey knows herself, knows she's perfectly fine to be on her own (she's survived dehydration, starvation, and fever all by herself for years thank-you-very-much), but Leia wants her to listen to the doctors, so she stays the night.

And most of the next day, too, as Rey awakes just before the sun is setting. Apparently, she truly had needed the sleep.

She's discharged only a few hours later, and no one argues due to the influx of survivors. Leia's sent her new clothes, and Rey happily discards most of her rags. Her arm wrappings she keeps, after a thorough wash in the fresher with her. She feels ridiculously exposed without them. Stepping out of her first ever (and long overdue) shower with clean water, Rey feels her stomach grumble. On instict, she reaches for her canteen to try and quell her hunger with water, only to remember she left it behind on Jakku. Instead, she finds a keycard in her pocket, with the word "Cantina" written in arubesh.

The girl smiles. She doesn't know a lot about Leia Organa, but from what she's learned, this has her written all over it. Rey sets out to find the Cantina, and though there are people she could ask, she's so used to being on her own that she doesn't. Instead, Rey watches their patterns: pilots decked in orange flight suits head in similar directions, as do officers in green suits and politicians with purple identification cards of their own. Rey realizes that, near the ceiling on the wall are color codes that point in different directions. In red arubesh she recognizes the markings for the cantina, and follows them.

It turns out that the place isn't far from where she is now, and in no time Rey is sliding her keycard and entering through the double doors. She finds it completely deserted, with benches and tables stretching through a wide space. On the other side there are a few lights on, and Rey guesses that it must be the kitchen area. She moves towards it, hoping to find some rations there. She has nothing to trade, but maybe Leia can be a bit forgiving if she pays her tomorrow. 

More lights turn on as Rey steps behind the counter, and begins to rummage through cubbards. She finds all sorts of utensils, pots and pans and bowls, but no familiar looking circular packets. One doesn't become a good scavenger by giving up after the first few tries, so Rey continues on. After going through another set of doors, she finally discovers food, but isn't even sure where to begin with the various fruits and vegetables and meats she sees (even if her stomach is threatening to eat itself).

At last, Rey finds a package marked "FLOUR", and after a quick inspection, thinks she recognizes the white powder inside. A few moments later, she returns with a small bowl filled with water from one of the taps, and scoops some of the powder out with her hand. Normally, she'd add the water to the ration, but Rey's sure it works the other way round.

Rey realizes that nothing's happened when she's already got her fingers in a gooey mixture. Her nose scrunches in distaste and confusion. Maybe she didn't add the correct amount of water? But Rey's sure she did. Using her fingers, she tries to mix it around a bit, but still nothing happens. Perhaps the order of how the water and portion are mixed does matter?

Thinking it might just be a bad batch, Rey dumps it down the drain (though it pains her to waste anything), and tries again. A frustrated groan rips through her when, once more, nothing happens. She's about to cut her loses and just stick it out until she can find Leia n the morning, when the doors slide open behind her. Rey turns, reaching for her staff to defend herself, but her hands close around empty space. Like her canteen, her staff is also elsewhere.

Besides, she doesn't need it anyway. BB-8 comes joyfully beeping around the counter, rolling to a stop just in front of her. Some of her hunger-induced anger waning, Rey smiles and crouches by her friend, as it wobbles back and forth, head swiveling around to address the doors.

"Beebee-Ate, what're you-oh, hello, there!" Poe Dameron comes marching around the corner, his face lighting up when he sees Rey. Frozen at his sudden entrance, and caught somewhere between knowing this man is at least an ally and her own survival insticnts, Rey tries to force a small smile to her lips, but her stomach breaks the tension by grumbling louder than ever. Her face flushes, as she's sure Poe heard that, considering he's now crouching on the other side of BB-8. His smile turns lopsided.

"Hungry, are you? Mind if I join, I'm starving." He stands, and glances around. Rey straightens slowly, still wary of him. She feels the heat from her cheeks threaten to spread to her ears when Poe frowns at her failed attempts with the white powder. "Are you...making bread?" She shakes her head.

"No." Poe gives her a curious, but not unfriendly look, and Rey continues. "Your portions aren't working correctly." 

At this, the pilot frowns again, turning back to the mixture. Rey's just as confused as he is. Does he not know what a portion is? BB-8 had mentioned, during their time on the Falcon, that Poe was the best pilot in the Galaxy. Maybe he received something better for his service? It isn't until BB-8 rolls up and beeps something at his master that understanding dawns on his face. 

"You were trying to make those old Imperial rations, weren't you!" He laughs a bit, and at first Rey feels herself bristle, but he keeps going. "Nice try. It never occurred to me to even take a stab at that. Why don't you let me cook for you? My Mom taught me a great recipe for Yavin Chili." Rey doesn't know what chili is, but it sounds better than going hungry, so she sets herself on the counter, watching as Poe makes himself at home in the kitchen. BB-8 follows him around, beeping and trilling in response to his animated talking.

Rey begins to relax as she listens to Poe tell her about Yavin IV, and how his parents were in the Rebel Alliance. He talks about his squadron, that she should meet Jessika and Snap and they could teach her how to fly an X-Wing, though Finn had said she was a pretty good pilot already. Rey snorts and smiles at that, and Poe's face lights up.

"So you are awake! I was just wondering if I should send BeeBee-Ate over to shock you just to see." Rey's smile widens. She likes Poe, she decides, and not just because he's about to feed her. He's open and friendly, and clearly cares a lot about his family and friends. She hopes she's one of them. 

"Sorry. I'm just--"

"Hungry? Tired? Charmed speechless by my dashing good looks?" Rey laughs, surprising herself, and before she can allow her walls to return, the ex-scavenger hops off the counter to join him by the stove. Poe's eyebrows raise, but his smile is still there.

"Hungry. Very hungry. Can I help?" The pilot glances at BB-8, who swivels its head to stare back at him.

"Told ya she'd warm up to me." Then he turns back to Rey, who is still grinning. "Mom always said that guests shouldn't make their own meal, but I think she'd make an exception for you. Why don't you grab the vegetables? Chop 'em up, and we'll add them in." 

He lists off what she needs to find, and Rey heads back to the cabinet. She's seen enough old holos to have a vague idea what she's looking for, but is still overwhelmed by the variety to choose from. BB-8, though, has followed her, and with the droid's help, she returns to Poe fairly quickly.

After a quick lesson on how to properly hold a knife and mincing vegetables, Poe lets her lose. He continues to talk, but the conversation turns towards her.

"I only spent a few days on Jakku, but it doesn't seem like the friendliest place to live. How'd you end up there?" Rey almost fumbles the knife. Finn and Han are the only two people who have ever asked her about herself, and there had never really been a lot of time to explain farther than a few words. And now, after that hallucination or vision or whatever she had at Maz's, it's clear that she really was left on Jakku. The thought fills her with a hollow pit in her stomach, that maybe her family truly wasn't coming back for her.

"...I was left there. By my family." She can feel Poe's surprise as he takes a slight step back. "I don't know why, but I always thought they were coming back for me..." Slowly, Rey stops her chopping. She thinks about the old woman from the washing station, with her sun-weathered features. How had she ended up there? Had her family left her too, with no explanation? Rey shivered as the realization of how easily she could have been that woman hit her.

"Hey," Poe places a hand on her shoulder, and Rey freezes, brought back to reality. "I'm sure that they must have had a good reason to do what they did. And you clearly did pretty well for yourself, to have made it so far on your own." Rey feels herself lighten a bit at his praise.

She begins to talk, slowly, at first, and then at greater length. Rey tells him about how she used to sleep on Unkar's floor ("Oh, I met him. He wasn't happy about you two stealing his ship."), until she found and Imperial Walker, and made that her home. How she made her own speeder, and explored the desert looking for wrecks she could salvage. Then she tells him about how she found BB-8, and through him, Finn.

"So what you're really saying," Poe says, as he stirs the chili, "is that all of this is my fault." Rey laughs for what feels like the hundredth time. She's sitting on the counter again, but this time next to Poe, her legs swinging back and forth. The kitchen smells like meat and spice, and her mouth is watering.

"Yeah. I guess so." Poe sighs, as if there's a great burden in that, as he ladles chili into a bowl and hands it to Rey.

"Well, I suppose I must formally apologize, m'lady. Seems as if I have put you through a great transgreesion." BB-8 beeps something, and Poe rolls his eye. "'Transgression, whatever. Perhaps I can make it up with this meager offering?" He motions for her to try the chili, and Rey breathes deep. It smells delicious, but she doesn't want Poe to think he needs to make anything up to her. 

"Poe...you don't have to apologize." His face falls, and he seems confused, before realization dawns. The pilot lifts his hands up.

"Oh, Rey, I was just joking. Y'know, like friends do?"

She blinks at him. Looks down at the chili, and then back up. She's embarrassed by it, but she can feel the tears beginning to form in her eyes, so she distracts herself by trying the chili. The flavor of it is enough to stun her, hearty meat mixed in with sauce and salt, with crunchy and soft vegetables and--

Rey stops chewing as the spicy flavor hits her. Her eyes water again, but for a different time.

"So...what do you think?" Poe questions, and BB-8 rolls towards her, beeping inquisitively. Rey tries to swallow, but can't force her mouth to let go of the spice, so she leaps of the counter, thrusting the bowl at Poe and running to the tap. She's not sure if she used the Force or not to do it, but she's doesn't remember turning the faucet on until she's already shoved her face under the running water.

Coughing, Rey comes up for air. She turns to find Poe biting his lip, obviously trying not to laugh and BB-8 rolling around the kitchen, high-pitched beeping indicating the droid's amusement.

"Sorry, I might've over done it with the spices." Poe looks at her apologetically, but Rey grins back.

"That was...the best food I have ever tasted." At her words, Poe's face lights up. He sets the bowl aside and, rolling up his sleeves, reaches for the white powder Rey had thought was portions.

"Well, why don't you try some of Yavin IV's famous bread rolls?"

That night, Rey and Poe stay up and talk about nearly everything as they cook. He introduces her to bread so soft, she thinks she's eating a cloud (and when it's dipped in the chili, helps ease the spice quite a bit). They don't realize it's nearly sunrise until the kitchen staff shows up to prepare breakfast. Poe tries to talk their way out of it, but the Chef orders them to wash every dish, pot, and pan they've used. Rey recognizes a fair trade when she sees one, and tugs on Poe's arm to tell him to let it go.

That's another new experience she gets: washing dishes with Poe, her new friend, arms elbow deep in water and soap, with BB-8 beeping encouragements at them.

Days later, Poe's parting gift to her is a hug and a wink, as he slides a piece of square paper into her hand, on which is written the chili recipe.

**Author's Note:**

> Well this was inspired by my own failed attempts at playing Cooking Mama, of all things. It then evolved into a friendship pieces with Rey and Poe and BB-8, because pieced-together space families give me a lot of feelings. Feedback is appreciated and welcomed!
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
